Countries emerging from conflict have some of the worst health indicators in the world.About one-sixth of the world’s population lives in such countries, but these people suffer one-third of childhood and maternal deaths, and they endure a disproportionate burden of preventable diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.

Health is an issue that people can unite around. Because health touches everyone in a country, improvements in the delivery of health care build confidence and provide a vehicle for the development of local governance.

The Rural Expansion of Afghanistan’s Community-based Healthcare (REACH) Program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has demonstrated that progress is possible in such settings, even in a relatively short time. REACH’s strategic objective—to increase the use of basic health services by women of reproductive age and children under five living in rural areas—was achieved due to a strong partnership among:

the Government of Afghanistan and the Ministryof Public Health (MoPH);

local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs);

donors that included theWorld Bank, EuropeanCommission, Japan, and United Nations agencies;

the REACH team: Management Sciences forHealth, JHPIEGO, the Academy for EducationalDevelopment, University of Massachusetts atAmherst, Health and Development Service (Japan), and Technical Assistance, Inc. (Bangladesh).